Civic Journalism: Six Case Studies
BOSTON, MASS.
The People's Voice

Listening First with a Poll

Designing the poll proved to be the first test of the partnership. WBUR-FM wanted to spend more and take a larger sampling for its only election poll, but the budgets of the Globe and WBZ-TV had to cover their subsequent horse-race polls as well. What's more, Fleming and his staff wanted to find a pollster less tied to horse-race polling, but WBUR's partners preferred to use the same firm for all their surveys. The three finally agreed to a sampling of 400 that would cost each partner about $7,500. WBUR's portion was subsidized by funds from Pew's grant to NPR.

Fleming and Epstein at WBUR-FM and Mohl at the Globe spent several weeks writing poll questions and, with additional input from Brown at WBZ-TV, paring them down from a list of 200-plus to the final 97 questions. Participants were asked to rank certain issues, explain their views, and offer potential solutions.

The final question asked whether the respondent would be willing to continue to participate in the project; about a quarter of those polled said yes. As the planners quickly realized, that didn't provide an instant pool of 100 potential panelists. Many of the respondents were too similar demographically. Others indicated interest, but said no when contacted again. Mohl discovered that even those who accepted invitations to participate could not always be counted on to show up.

Poll in hand, the partners took the data to the first focus group - 11 people at WBZ-TV -- for citizen reaction. Crime, the lead issue cited in the poll, was the topic. (The focus groups were held on Monday nights, leaving the reporters and producers enough time to prepare the following week's reports.)

Moderated by Charles Kenney, a former Globe political writer hired to lead all the focus groups, the lively discussion lasted nearly two hours. The Globe's front-page report ran June 12 and filled two inside pages, the most space devoted at one time to "The People's Voice" during the entire campaign.

The package included:

• A description of "The People's Voice" project.

• A small box explaining how to register to vote.

• A pair of sidebars about the increase in juvenile crime and the "lost generation," a term that came up repeatedly during the session. The crime sidebar included the only comments from an "expert," a local professor of sociology and criminology; more expert comments were published in a follow-up the next day.

• Matching issues boxes containing the voters' views and the candidates' views on crime. The boxes occupied most of the right-hand side of the two-page spread, sending a clear message that the Globe was taking the voters seriously.

Two other items became part of "The People's Voice" routine:

• A "Learn More" box listing titles and times for the corresponding week-long WBUR series and the times for "The People's Voice" reports on WBZ-TV that day.

• A "How to Get Involved" box urging readers to "Make sure 'The People's Voice' is heard. Call, write, or message us electronically with your comments, your questions, and your suggestions." The Globe's phone number, address, and a special e-mail address -- voice@Globe.com -- followed. In a nice techno-twist, the Globe's computer experts linked the e-mail to the newspaper's Atex computer system where Mohl could access messages easily.

State house reporter Aucoin covered three of the five focus groups: crime, welfare, and education. Mohl went outside the political staff for the other two, tapping medical reporter Richard A. Knox for health and economics writer Charles Stein for jobs and the economy.